Tag Archives: faith

“My fellow Americans, it has been the honor of my life to serve you. I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days. But for now, whether you are young or whether you’re young at heart, I do have one final ask of you as your president — the same thing I asked when you took a chance on me eight years ago.

I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change — but in yours.”

– President Barack Obama

The closing words from President Obama’s Farewell Address are as powerful as they are poignant. A true servant leader, he understands the power of belief and the results that come from working together.

His wisdom, his grace and his smile will be sorely missed once he leaves office.

Isn’t this our call as people of faith? We are to live in the love which has first been shown to us. Reflecting that love to others is what life is all about.

If we demonstrate Christ’s love to all those we meet (and the key word here is demonstrate), there are some who won’t understand, but there are others who will not only soak up that love but also share it. Do something wonderful this week. Do something that demonstrates the love that we call Emmanuel.

President Carter nailed it with this comment. And as the recent Presidential election has so clearly demonstrated, most of us do not care about Christian values. We voted our fear instead of our faith. We put our faith in change rather than in love.

The man we have chosen for president does not reflect the values of Jesus Christ. I do not care about parties, tags, or even promises. But, I do care about a visible, historical record of lying, greed, fraud, hatred, vengeance, bullying, racism and a serious lack of self control.

I (and the entire world) have witnessed all of those in our president-elect. It’s the way he lives. It’s his lifestyle. What I haven’t seen is love, caring, compassion, joy and a desire for justice. We have elected a leader that reflects the opposite of Christian values.

Electing Donald Trump as our next president is a clear statement of our new national values. And they are anything but Christian.

Worry is nothing but another form of fear. And although a little fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we can never let if immobilize us. “Action is eloquence,” wrote Shakespeare, and again, experience has taught me that taking action cuts through any fear or worry.

When we see something that is wrong there’s no need to worry or fret about it. Let’s just fix it.

The presidential campaign for our country’s 45th President is now over. Once again we have demonstrated to the world how power is transferred in a democratic fashion.

What we have also show the world is that our nation is one where fear triumphs over everything else, and where the character of our President is not as important as braggadocio, hubris and and uncontrollable verbal outbursts against those who oppose him.

Donald Trump is now the President Elect of the United States. His acceptance speech was the most gracious I have heard him in the past 18 months. He promised to work for all our citizens, a real departure from so many of his campaign promises. My prayer is that he keeps those promises.

We live in a democracy, and the will of the majority has been made known. I, for one, am not just dismayed. I am both embarrassed and ashamed. The election of Mr Trump is a clear statement as to the values of the majority of our nation, and those values are not the values taught by the faith I hold.

I will pray for all the new leaders of the United States. I will pray for our nation. At this juncture that’s the best any of us can do.

We live in a world where hunger can eradicated in the next 15 years. That’s a fact, not an opinion. Why, then, are not those of us claiming to follow the Prince of Peace doing all in our power to make it happen?

We live at a time when the gulf between the rich and the poor is widening at an alarming rate. Why, then, are we are have been taught that the worship of wealth is idolatry bowing before our bank accounts and continuing to pile up our possessions?

We live in an age where so many of our leaders insist we live in fear and hatred of our neighbors. The Jesus portrayed in the Gospels taught just the opposite. As His followers, as his disciples, we are to be known by our love for each other.

Our faith, what we truly believe in, is demonstrated by how we live. Our lifestyles, the daily choices we make, determine the true depth of our discipleship.

This powerful quote by Cory Booker sums it up. Talk is cheap. We show the world what we believe by the way we live.

Our true values are diametrically opposed to the values taught by Jesus the Christ and the precepts and teachings of the Bible. Our values are wealth, power, greed and selfishness.; none of which Jesus taught or practiced.

Faithfulness means a lot of different things to different people. But lets not confuse the misplaced values of our immoral society with the practice of loving everyone we meet even more than we love ourselves.